Next Saturday (6/22), immediately following our 5:30 vigil Mass, we will have our 2nd annual Parish Bonfire, in observance of the vigil of the Nativity of St. John the Baptist. Because the actual date of the vigil (6/23) falls on a Sunday evening, we are celebrating it a day earlier. This means we will be celebrating St. John the Baptist on the feast of St. John Fisher, who was the cardinal archbishop of Rochester, England in the 16th century. Interestingly, although they lived 1500 years apart, the two men share deep connections. John Fisher’s patron saint was John the Baptist, and both men would suffer martyrdom by beheading because of their courageous refusal to be complicit in the sins of their respective sovereigns, King Henry VIII and King Herod Antipas.
In the gospel, there is a very moving scene where the disciples of John the Baptist come to him not long before his arrest, complaining that people are leaving John to follow Jesus. The Baptist reminds his followers that he is not the Messiah, and he speaks of the joy he feels at the coming of the Lord, telling them, “He must increase, and I must decrease” (Jn 3:22-30). If we consider the dates on which the feasts of John’s nativity and Our Lord’s nativity fall, it seems that the cosmos affirms John’s testimony to the Lord, for their births roughly correspond to the summer and winter solstices. With John’s birth, the length of days begins to decrease, while with Our Lord’s birth, the days begin to lengthen.
But why do we honor the Baptist by supplementing the brightness of these days with bonfires? After John is arrested by King Herod, Our Lord publicly praises him telling His own followers that John “was a burning and shining lamp, and you were willing to rejoice for a while in his light” (Jn 5:35). This is the reason it is fitting for us to rejoice together in the light of fires lit in honor of the Baptist, with live music, food trucks, a “bouncy castle,” and crafts, among other fun activities. We hope you will join us.
To help us prepare to welcome our guests, we’re asking people to pre-register by clicking this PRE-REGISTRATION LINK.
posted 6/14/24
The Parish of St. Cecilia-St. Gabriel 